Understanding Maya

Though being given numerous tasks and characters to accomplish building; without step by step construction I felt as though I hadn't been learning from Maya independently; thus being unable to model my own creations and characters. Below show three attempts to create construction of characters by myself; not taking in the previous knowledge from lessons and tutorials.

This is my first attempts to create a humans torso; this included the process of trying to create many separate shapes to create a form like I would with 2D. This method does not work however; in comparison to how it is supposed to be done. Objects will merge but will not physically mould into one another. this method does not create the correct shapes, whilst also being unable to add detail and contours the human body has. spacing between the pelvis and torso are also unaligned; the reason being my lack of experience in using the multiple camera angles. Where camera angles are not supposed to be moved around like you can in one mode as the entire 3D space; I was under the impression the fixed angles were locked and needed unlocking. This resulted in me working in a completely 3D space, rather than how you should work in Maya with the benefit of being able to align objects properly in camera angles that do not move. 

This was an attempt to create an existing character; Hello kitty. This was also once more creating a character from separate shapes; whilst no angles being fixed onto one side. Here I am unable to create the right shapes; as the end of the limbs go sharp and are not rounded off. Here I was also introduced to 'T-Shapes' - trying to add detail in Mudbox for the face, T-Shapes will corrupt the ability to add detail. This will result in your shape being distorted easily and being twisted and turned into an abstract shape as you attempt to sculpt in fine detail. the cause of T-shapes are 3 sided objects - as every polygon must be a quad. This helped me learn that if I spot a triangle shape or any shape that does not match up to four side; I must manipulate that particular shape in order for it to be cleaned up properly in Mudbox.